7 Stellar Meditation Apps To Deepen Your Practice (Or Start It!)

If you're new to meditation, Headspace is a great option to start with. What's great about this app is how it teaches the foundational aspects of meditation, such as body scanning, compassion, and mindfulness, so you can grow your practice from the ground up. It was actually founded by former Buddhist monk, Andy Puddicombe (who narrates many of the meditations), so you know it was created with heart.

If you're hoping to develop a regular meditation practice, the annual subscription will save you significant money when compared to monthly payments. An annual Headspace subscription breaks down to $5.83 per month, whil monthly subscribers pay $12.99. What's more, Headspace offers students a full annual membership for only $9.99. And, if you're still on the fence, you'll have a 14-day free trial to decide whether Headspace is worth it. Just make sure to cancel your membership before the trial ends, to avoid being charged the full amount.

To learn more about how Headspace relates to the most popular meditation app, Calm, read our full comparison of the two.

Cost: $12.99/month or $69.99/year

Alo Moves may be thought of more as a yoga app, but don't be fooled—there's loads of great meditation content available on here. (Plus, yoga and meditation traditionally go hand in hand.) Sound healer and meditation expert Susy Markoe Schieffelin says she loves this app because it frequently offers discounts and its collection is constantly expanding. "They're going to start offering reiki, they're going to start offering face yoga—really interesting things," she explains. Along with Alo's meditation content, the app also offers sound baths, yoga nidra, breathwork, and more—and the reiki content has since been added, too!

Cost: $20/month or $199/year

With over 1.5 million five-star reviews, there's a reason Calm made it on our list. Arguably the world's most popular meditation app, Calm is all about using mindfulness to improve your quality of life—and the resources they offer can help you do so. They have everything from walking meditations to breathwork techniques to a new meditation (coined the "Daily Calm") every day. We're just scratching the surface of all the great perks of this app, but luckily you can try it for free to see for yourself—and even keep it free if you like.

Check out our Calm review to learn more.

Cost: Free for basic access, with premium plans at $14.99/month, $69.99/year, or $399.99 for life. (Student, family, and corporate plans also available.)

According to Markoe Schieffelin, Insight Timer is a classic, go-to meditation app for good reason. "I only use it for the timer, but I always recommend it to people, because there are thousands and thousands of options," she tells mbg. And she's right: If you simply want to use the timer function for a silent meditation, that's a possibility. But the app also has meditations for sleep, stress, and so much more.

Cost: Free for basic access, with a premium subscription available for $60/year

If you're looking to incorporate more meditation into your spirituality, we'd recommend the Chopra app. Founded by none other than world-renowned guru and mbg Collective member Deepak Chopra, this app puts a focus on discovering your true essence—mind, body, and spirit. It even includes a quiz to personalize your experience so you can get the most out of the app. With hundreds of meditations, 21-day programs, journaling prompts, and more, this is worth a test run if you want to learn more about meditating—and yourself.

Cost: $69.99/year

10 Percent Happier holds our spot for the best meditation app for sleep, with a wide catalog of meditations available to help you ease stress and doze off. The app was founded by retired journalist and author of 10 Percent Happier Dan Harris, who was inspired to share all the benefits he found from his own meditation practice. The extremely accessible interface makes the app feel approachable, with a focus on developing a consistent, yet simple, mindfulness practice. It's worth noting that in order to access a monthly subscription, you have to email [email protected]—and keep an eye out for 30-day trials, as the trial is usually only seven days, but they occasionally offer 30.

Cost: $99.99/year (email support to inquire about monthly subscriptions)

And last but certainly not least, we have the Oak meditation and breathing app. That's right—if you want to learn how to harness the power of your breath to beat stress, this is the app to try, with plenty of guided breathing and breathwork content. And while their library may not be as expansive as some of the other options on this list, sometimes that's not a bad thing. As one happy reviewer writes, "All the other apps have thousands to choose from that it's too overwhelming that I don't feel like meditating. This app has helped me extremely with the stress and anxiety I've had." And did we mention it's totally free? Because it's free!

Cost: Free